Mobile power generating systems were developed to provide electrical power that to areas where electrical power is otherwise not available. The reasons for the unavailability of electrical resources are many including, not having access to the conventional power grid due to the remote nature of the location, demand for electricity in excess of the amount supplied by the conventional power grid, the unavailability of the power grid due to natural disasters, maintenance, etc. The electrical load requirements, in terms of generating capacity and duty cycle, for mobile power generating systems varies drastically. For example one mobile generating deployment may require only a small load capacity for sporadic or light duty use, while another deployment may require a long-term continuous load capacity working in conjunction to provide load support for a overburdened electrical grid.
Mobile power generating systems by their vary nature must be easily transportable, via several modes, air, ground and sea. The transportability requirement extends to logistic equipment required to set up and operate the generating system. To facilitate this mobility, mobile power generating systems beneficially need to be deployable in transport aircraft, such as the C-130 transport aircraft. The mobility requirement imposes several restraints not pertinent for other non-mobile generator systems, such as gross weight, weight per axle, psi at deck interfaces, height, width, center of gravity and rigidity. With respect to air mobility, the U.S. military has issued standards (MIL-STD-1791) governing specific size and load constraints for deployable generator systems. In addition as air-transportation utilizes a limited number of assets and is costly, efficiencies in terms of specific weight (lbs/KW) is also desirable. Thus the structure, weight, load distribution and specific weight of mobile generating systems become significant factors in their design, while remaining relatively insignificant in non air-transportable, fixed generating systems.
The stringent size and load requirements for air mobility effects the ability to provide a robust redundant power generation system. For example, previously it has been impractical to provide a single platform providing plural generators due to the decreased power generation capability that results from reducing the size of the generators in order to keep the platform within the weight specifications. Thus prior art mobile platforms consist of a single generating unit, sacrificing the redundancy provided by a dual generator system.
As the general nature of mobile power generating system deployments are transient, operator and maintenance personal are likely not to be as cognizant of the particularities of different systems in regards to their operation and maintenance. Furthermore, a service history would not necessarily be readily available at the deployment site. Thus, unlike fixed power generation systems which may consist of a plurality of generators which operate cooperatively through the life time of the power generation system, a mobile power generation systems may consist of a plurality of mobile generators which have not previously operated together as a system. Because the makeup of the mobile generation system may be made on an adhoc basis, i.e., based on the availability of the mobile generators for transport on short notice, it is important that processors controlling the operation of the mobile generators take into account the specific history of the mobile generators, including runtime in coordinating the utilization of the mobile generators. This aspect is particularly important where plural generators are contained in a single mobile unit so that the runtime of the combined unit can be divided in a uniform fashion between the plural generators.
Additionally, many deployments of mobile power generating systems are in hostile environments due to inclement weather or combat conditions. Therefore it is desirable for such mobile power generating systems to require a minimum amount of human involvement for operation and maintenance.
For cost, logistic and manpower reasons it is undesirable to purchase, maintain and distribute wide varieties of mobile power generating system tailored to a specific load or duty cycle. Thus there is a need for mobile power generating system that is flexible in configuration and scalable to meet the varying demands efficiently from one deployment to another, as well as a system that operates in a near autonomous fashion without the need for reconfiguration. There is also a need for a mobile power system that is operator friendly requiring only a minimum of training for the operators. These needs also much be accomplished in a system that is easily transportable.
Accordingly, it is an object of the present disclosure to obviate many of the above problems in the prior art and to provide a novel mobile engine-generator comprising n generator sets, the generator sets comprising an engine and a mechanical power to electrical power converter; a main bus operably connecting each of said n generator sets and a power output; a processor operably connected to each of said n generator sets and said main bus; a communication link, said link operably connected to said processor; wherein the processor controls the operation of said main bus and each of said n generator sets. An embodiment of mobile engine-generator also includes a switch operable connected to the processor for switching the processor between master and slave modes; wherein in said slave mode the processor is controlled via the communication link and in said master mode, the processor sends control signals over the communication link.
It is another object of the present disclosure to provide a novel distributed engine-generator system comprising: a plurality of mobile engine-generators interconnected by a communication link, wherein any one of the plurality mobile engine-generators is a master, and the others of the plurality of mobile engine-generators are slaves and the master controls said slaves via said communication link
It is yet another object of the present disclosure to provide a novel method for a distributed engine-generator system comprising M power units interconnected by a communication line and interconnected in parallel by a common power bus, wherein one of the M power units is configured as a master and the others of the M power units configured as slaves, each of the M power units comprising n generator sets, of controlling generation capacity by the master comprising the steps of: (a) determining the system load in relation to an upper and lower threshold; (b) sequencing said M power units, 1-M; (c) incrementally bringing online said M power units while the system load exceeds the upper threshold; and (d) decrementally taking offline said M power units while the system load is below the lower threshold.
It is still another object of the present disclosure to provide a novel method of controlling a deployable distributed engine-generator system to provide electrical power to support an electrical load. An embodiment including providing a plurality of mobile engine-generators; connecting the plurality of mobile engine-generators through a common communications link and a common power bus; designating one of the plurality of engine-mobile generators as the lead generator, monitoring the operating parameters of the plurality of mobile engine-generators at the lead engine-generator through the common communications link; controlling the operation of the plurality of engine-generators from the lead generator as a function of the monitored parameters; and, selectively changing the designation of the lead engine-generator among the plurality of engine-generators as a function of the monitored parameters without interrupting the supply of electricity to the electrical load.
It is an additional object of the present disclosure to provide a novel distributed engine-generator system comprising: a plurality of mobile engine-generators, each mobile engine-generator comprising: a frame with ground engaging wheels, at least one engine driven generator carried by said frame, a microprocessor-based controller carried by said frame for monitoring engine and generator parameters and for selectively controlling the operation thereof in response to locally generated operating instructions, programmable software resident within said controller, and remotely generated instructions, said controller having means for visually displaying the monitored parameters and for locally generating operating instructions, and means operatively connected to said controller for asynchronous communication with the controllers of the other ones of said mobile engine-generators and a source of remote operating instructions to provide and receive engine and generator parameters and operating instructions, whereby each of said plurality of mobile engine-generators may be (a) selectively operated independently of the others of said plurality of mobile engine-generators, (b) operated under the remote control of said source of operating instructions, (c) operated under the control of the controller of another one of said plurality of mobile engine-generators and (d) control the operation of others of said plurality of mobile engine-generators.
These and many other objects and advantages of the present disclosure will be readily apparent to one skilled in the art to which the disclosure pertains from a perusal or the claims, the appended drawings, and the following detailed description of the preferred embodiments.